Can the warning chime tone of a 2007 BMW 525i be changed, or shortened somehow?

The chime of this car comes from the computer and is used for most warnings such as seatbelt, temperature, door-open, key-in-ignition, etc. The problem is that it is very loud and obnoxiously long to the point of interfering with conversation. Since it is used for multiple purposes it seems that I cannot enter or leave the vehicle without it going off - for a while. And now that I have become annoyed by it - the annoyance grows each time I hear it and it is too loud to ignore.

Since the chime is generated by the computer and its software I assume it can be changed through programming of some kind. Is it possible to alter/adjust the warning tone?

3 Answers
3

I know nothing about BMW, but this might help. My VW Jetta had a "La Cucaracha" warning buzzer that was plugged into the fuse box and looked like a relay with a speaker on it. Rather than unplugging it, I covered the speaker part with several layers of electrical tape.

The tone could still be heard, but it was very quiet and not nearly as annoying.

So, my advice would be to find the speaker/buzzer the sound comes from and cover it up with some insulation or tape.

If your car plays the tone from the stereo speakers this won't work at all, but maybe it will help out others trying to quiet their less advanced buzzers.

I'm not sure about BMW, but I used to develop these chimes for Ford and Fiat. They were implemented in the vehicle media system, aka radio. So, in order to change the volume or type of chime one must program a new software and download it to the media system. This is not trivial, the system supplier is the owner of these codes and they won't let you touch it unless you are BMW and pays a great deal of money to do it.

The other hipothesys is that your cluster (aka panel) produces the chime. But as far as I knew, these were low profile vehicles that need a more affordable solution. So, BMW? I don't think so.

Bottom line, I don't see how you could easily do it using limited tools of a common garage.

I know that some people had a procedure for changing behavior of the seatbelt chime described right in the manual, cars of various brands and various models not specifically yours. Many require buckling and unbuckling the seatbelt a certain number of times really fast, in some cases the key needed to be also in a certain position etc, you find some odd combinations of various actions but often the procedures are described in some corner of the net. However there is who bothered trying procedures used on different brands on their cars and stumbled onto something that worked. Some dealers have a list of what they can change/disable and contacting yours might be faster.
I came across people finding "hidden" menus in their BMWs while searching the same things for my other cars... but too long ago to remember the details of each procedure and if they could change something about the chimes beyond just testing them. Places like Bimmerforums and M5board would be the first where to start digging for that stuff (and often they already been the guineapig if tweaking some things could create a mess). FYI some methods span various models it seems.